So let me ask you - if you have a mask, will you wear one when/if you need to go to a store? We have them - DH always keeps them - but this line from the article is what I've been thinking all along. "If the public is told that only the sick people are to wear masks, then those who do wear them will be stigmatized and people may well avoid wearing them if it screams “I’m sick.” It's like seasonal allergies and I'm afraid that if I sniffle or wipe my nose someone will think I'm sick.

I did not buy any ( I think we have some around for painting or something like that) and do not plan to. I would wear a scarf instead if I had to, for example, be in a crowd for some reason.

The Target store that we frequent is near a major Cancer Center. It’s not unusual to see people wearing masks when we shop there. We know that they are patients with compromised immune systems.

Masks have to offer some protection.

A friend who is undergoing chemo has been told to stay home, but when she does go out she needs to wear a N95.

We have a couple of boxes of the N95 masks because that is one of the things you should have in your earthquake preparation kits. Don't plan on opening the boxes unless we really have to.

We lived in japan for several years and live in an area with a relatively high Asian population, so seeing people with masks is a daily occurrence, even in normal times, so most here make no assumptions about why it is being worn, it is just a "normal" sight.

I bought and wore a mask when I went to China (the air quality index was over 400) but I have not worn it since.

I have N95 masks that I got to deal with the smoke from the California fires of the last couple years. There were periods when the air quality was truly awful. I should probably have a box, but I only have a couple.

I have to get veggies with vitamin k before my Peapod delivery comes through. It is still chilly here so I am going to wear a scarf and gloves on my broccoli run. This is more to stop me from touching my face or eyes before I can wash my hands.

I could not read the article because of the paywall. I did see a dr the other day say that masks will not prevent you from getting the virus as the droplets are so small they will go right through the mask and that masks are for healthcare workers and the already ill.

I have two or three surgical masks left over from when I was sick and my mother was in hospital back in December. I haven't dug them out to wear, but maybe I will when I have to go out in two weeks or so.

Joanie, the article deals exactly with that info and contradicts some of what we've been told.

I have a good supply of adult and child sized N95 masks that I bought for surviving our horrible smoke crises the last few years. I also have some older surgical masks that I can't recall why I bought them.

I do not care if I am "stigmatized" as being sick for wearing one (I haven't yet). I don't even know anyone at the grocery store, which is the only place I can imagine wearing one.

I also have a good supply of disposable gloves. I used some the other day when shopping and carefully peeled them off before touching my car or anything else when I was done. I was going to toss them, but then realized they will not be contaminated after a certain period of time, so I just left them out in my garage (detached and unheated) to decontaminate and will reuse them.

I am going to try to post the article for those who can't get to it at NYT:

This article was so informative. I also wondered why we were being told that masks weren't effective, yet saying they needed the masks for the medical personnel. Very contradictory. Off to find out if some of my masks are needed by the hospital.

Something is better than nothing. There are no absolutes and no guarantees.

We went grocery shopping yesterday and entered the store with our home sewn masks and some gloves. By the time we got back to our car with our groceries we realized that our preventative measures had been compromised so many times along the experience. It is almost impossible to maintain a sanitized field around you when out in public and shopping.

Then, when you get home and put your groceries away, you are again touching the things that you touched in the store.

I took a cloth saturated with a mild water and bleach solution and wiped down the containers and such before putting them away, or removed the food from the container into one from home.

You touch the items on the shelf that were touched by those who put them on the shelf, they go into a grocery cart that is potentially contaminated, you load them into your car, into your kitchen and into your pantry and fridge. Plus, you touched the car door handles, the steering wheel, and all in between.

And it is important to NOT sit things that have been out in public onto your private surfaces such as the table where you eat or on your countertops.

Also, your reusable bags are potentially contaminated.

I figure that mine will be ready to use the next time it I just let them hang in the open dry air. If it were warm and sunny outside I would put them out on the deck in the sunshine.

If you live somewhere where it is warm and sunny it strikes me that putting things like that in your car with the windows rolled up would be pretty hostile to microbes. The heat inside a car sitting in the sun can get pretty darned hot! Maybe, maybe not.

It is even hard to wash your hands without potentially reinfecting them by turning off the water or opening the door or using a family towel. So many ways we do things that we just take for granted! It requires an entire different way of thinking, and that is a huge learning curve for most of us.

Don't overlook that "third hand", the phone. It is a transmission device, at this point ,if not considered carefully.

I am reading conflicting things about whether I need to sanitize the groceries I bring home, so I am still doing it.

My personal guess is that it is HIGHLY unlikely but not impossible to get it from a surface.

One of my friends sent me this a minute ago with some of the latest info on contaminated surfaces:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/health/coronavirus-response-must-adapt-frieden-analysis/index.html

This seems to say it lives on surfaces up to 3 days, in declining numbers as time passes.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-03-20/how-long-does-coronavirus-last-on-surfaces/12074330

I found this about mask wearing in the Spanish Flu Epidemic. Below is a link to the article if you wish to read it. Amazing at how our response to corona mirrors much of the same response they used. WE haven't gained a whole lot of control over rogue viruses that kill us. Interesting that they still express the same opinion that the most important transmission is actually touching your face with dirty hands, but the masks do help. Interesting that a square yard of open weave fabric that is folded with it's grain lines running diagonally back and forth produces a fabric that has probably about as many germ trapping abilities as you would reasonably expect from a piece of fabric.

Here is the excerpt.

the gauze mask was another prevention method using similar ideas of contagion and germ theory. In the United States it was widely accepted for use in hospitals among health care workers. The face masks consisted of a half yard of gauze, folded like a triangular bandage covering the mouth, nose and chin (BMJ, 11/2/19118). These gauze masks acted to prevent the infectious droplets from being expelled by the mouth and from the hands, contaminated with microbe from being put to the mouth. The barrier from the hands was thought to be more important than the barrier from the air. The mask was also worn in some regions by the general population. In San Francisco the gauze masks were made a requirement of the entire population in a trial ordinance. This was later expanded to include San Diego in December. This rhyme was a popular way to remind people of the ordinance.

Obey the laws And wear the gauze Protect your jaws From Septic Paws

https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/fluresponse.html

The reason why Hong Kong is actually doing quite well containing the virus is because everyone wears a mask, so those infected do not infect others.

This is even more important when there are estimates that 80% of all transmission is by asymptomatic carriers.

And that most of transmission is via the respiratory tract, not by touch.

And even then, a mask would prevent people from spitting in their hands or on surfaces.

Even better, avoid face-to-face speaking to others.

There is no speaking that doesn't involve emission of droplets, which will contain the virus if the person you're talking to is infected.

This^ in bold above.

I have seen some really cute mask patterns online and I was thinking I’d like to have a few for myself, but I’ll have to be really bored before I start sewing. REALLY bored. Totally agree that a cloth mask is not as effective as a real surgical or N 95 mask but I think it does help contain your own droplets and reinforce not putting your hands to your mouth.

Somewhere i have masks we bought after 9/11, I think. Prob useless.

If you are a skiier, don't forget you can use a balaclava or a gaiter for some protection (wash often). They make them in lighter weight for sun protection too.

If you don't have one, you might consider this: https://www.oiselle.com/products/lux-gaiter?gclid=Cj0KCQjwmdzzBRC7ARIsANdqRRkwpSNkEY0tQpt10zn-BtlpZMG-D-XOghUPlfYo5n8VMrtJtQFNl2caAoGdEALw_wcB&variant=20240759193673

Actually, while a surgical mask supposedly catches around 90% of droplets or particles (not sure), just a T-shirt catches 70%.

I wonder whether this explains why in countries that require women to wear a burqa or niqab (Saudi Arabia, supposedly 70% wear it), COVID-19 infection rate is relatively low, meaning that about 35% of the population protect their mouth when outside.

I have a variety of Buffs (neck gaiters) I wear them when I walk on cold days over my face to keep my face and nose warm. They are long enough that you can fold them in half to make a double layer to wear over you nose and mouth.

No soccer, I was wondering that same thing (about burkas) the other day when I saw a woman in a burka at the airport. That was what made me think about gaiters and such, but I didn't wear one. I think I will though, the next time I go to the store, WTH. With sunglasses, and looking all mysterious. Hmm I may have to up my leggings game to pull off mysterious.

I think that a neck gaiter has potential to help in this matter. You could use the gaiter to hold in place something that has more filtering qualities.

If this goes on I think you will see the face mask morph into fashion with new designs and new forms. Maybe, if we ever think normal again.

You know what guys, we are being lied to. We should all be wearing masks. The only reason we are not being told that is because there aren't even enough for the people who most need them.

Take a look at this video from Chinese Red Cross Officials (at 0:41 if you are impatient) where they are practically yelling at the Italians for not doing enough, including not wearing masks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnJF6NmXT74

So, everywhere else, people are being INSTRUCTED to wear masks. Use whatever you have, and buy the real thing when you can.